Paypal’s UK financing of SMEs passes £1bn

The tech giant has been quietly growing its alternative funding platform with total cash advances issued to UK small businesses increasing 60 per cent last year.

PayPal has advanced £1bn of finance to UK small businesses through its PayPal Working Capital platform.

More than 37,000 UK small businesses have now drawn 116,000 cash advances since it launched in the UK in 2014 with the total amount advanced through PayPal Working Capital increased by 60 per cent from £625m in 2018.

Speaking to AltFi Norah Coelho, Director of Business Financing at PayPal UK says the firm is always looking to new services leveraging its vast data set.

“Our core is data and technology which is productive for both consumers and SMEs,” she said.

Coelho added: “The support we offer businesses extends far beyond processing online payments. Our in-depth knowledge of our small business customers mean we can typically approve and issue a cash advance in minutes after a quick online application is completed.

“The fast, online application means they can apply at any hour of the day and avoid lengthy in-branch processes, leaving them free to spend time focusing on running – and growing – their business."

PayPal has also increased the upper limit for advances from £100,000 to £150,000 in response to the sustained demand for this form of alternative finance.

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AltFi provides market-leading news, insights and data on the rapidly growing alternative finance and fintech world. Our core focus is on alternative lenders, including both peer-to-peer/marketplace lenders and direct lenders as well as investment in alternative credit, equity crowdfunding, challenger banks and robo-advice. In addition, AltFi runs major industry conferences and seminars globally, and our sister company AltFi Data is widely regarded as the premier source of institution-grade analytics for alternative finance.